Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-01-29
HOWl SCULPTOR'S WORK.
FACTS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN l. ABOUT STATUE MAKING.


 70
 Various Methods Of Carving-How Some
 Artists Differ from Others-The Best
 Known System Deseribed-The Men
 Who Help the ScuIptors.
 Several great sculptOrs, Michael Angelo among them, have occasionally hewn their statues straight out of the block of marble, without going through the pre- liminary courses of modelling in clay and casting in plaster. But this is rarely done, for, in the first place, the work would be too long for any artist who has q regard for his time, and, in the second, the hew- ing of the marble demands a special prac- tical experience which makes it an art apart. A sculptor would probably spoil a hundred blocks of marble before mak- ing as much as q statuette foot high were he tO trust only 10 himself in the matter. Even Michael Angelo, when be tried tO dispense with the ''Statuary" or ''practitioner," " succeeded only in making fragments of figures. Not being an adept in judging of the size of the block he needed, he was constantly finding that he had miscalculated and that an arm. a leg or head must remain unfinished in consequence.
 The 'statuary," " who is often an artist of great merit and possessed of as much talent in his way as the sculptor in his, sets the plaster model on a platform, measures it and places it side by side with a block of marble Of the requisite height and breadth. This do le, he applies to the model an instrument of mathematical precision. by which he obtains the de tailed measure of every part and angle of the statue. He then returns tO the marble and roughly sketches on the out side Of it, by means of points, a sort of out line Oi the figure pr group. Upon each of the spo's where he has marked point with his pencil workman bOres hole with nn awl, taking great care, however, not 10 bore fraction of an inch deeper than he is told When the 'statuary'' has inspected all tLe sides of the block, and when the holes have all been bored according Co his directions, the marble looks as though it had been riddled by bullets.
 POINTS IN STATUE MAKING.
 A second workman then appears with chisel and hammer Co hew away the fragments of marble between the different holes and along the pencil lines drawn as guide marks. This work Is more or less easy as the attitude of the statue IS simple or fanciful II the figure be one of modern parsonage standing placidly with his arms by his sides, attired in the clothes of our day and with nothing eccentric in the position of his legs, the task offers DO difficulties and may be iutrusted to n very ordinary workman. But if the sub ject he a group or figure in an attitude. Fr. 1ftr.s Rus .I. Lightning the chi>el cannot be intrIIsted tO any but practiced hand, and every blow of the hammer must be struck with the greatest precautiOn.
 The appearance presented by the marble when the preparatory hewing has ended Is that ot some person or persons thickly wrapped up in a shrOud. The outlines of head and body can be vaguely detected under the white covering but nothing more. An it Is not until the .'statuary'' himself has set tO work with his finer chisel and more delicate hand that tan gible form begins tO emerge from the hard mass. First the head, then the shoulders and trunk, then the legs, and then the arms and hands appear. The arms and hands. if OutstTetched, are re- served Co the last; fl detached first from the block the oscillations caused by the chisel in hewing the other parts of the marble might shake and crack them. This is very necessary precautiOn, and it k even usual tO keep the arms, the fingers and other projecting parts of marble statues continually supported by props of wood until the moment when the work is set upon its pedestal and uncovered.
 WORK BY THE SCULPTOR.
 When the statue is handed over 70 the sculptor 50 that he may give the, Gnal touches tO 1t there sometimes remains scarcely anything for him Co do. This is the case when the ''statuaryn is himself a first class artist and can trust himScl. tO initiate tO nicety the slightest detai of form and expression in the plaStc model But such examples are rare. lc, because of the incapacity of the "-tatu aries than by reason of the natural dcs;r, which every artist has tO terminate l person the work he has conceived an, tegun.
 The statue is usually returned to th, sculptor in a half finished state. the iiu, touches, which will constitute the specia beauty of the work, yet remaining Co Do one. The most delicate of tools are thri employed; slender chisels with the fine points; toy hammers of scarcely any weight, little graters that flt on, sOulc thing like thimbles, Co the top Of the fu.c finger. And tO polish the marble aE. smooth it channels leather. sandpap.r sp0nges steeped in oil and the palm of ca hand are used. When the work present a nude figure the amount of care needle, for the correct modelling of the limbs ant muscles is incOnceivable Works like th, LsucOOn, the Dying Gladiator and tho Apollo Belvidere must have cost the maker more trouble and anxiety than any sum O. money could repay.-New York Mail Unt Express.